Tokyo

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT TOKYO - PAGE 2

TOKYO (Reuters) - The following are comments on Thursday from finance officials in Tokyo for the semiannual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. WORLD BANK HEAD JIM YONG KIM ON GROWTH SLOWDOWN IN CHINA "In talking with the Chinese authorities, I am completely convinced that they understand exactly the nature of the problem and they're taking every measure - they're going through a political change right now and once the political change is complete, my sense is that they'll be very aggressive in trying to restore growth.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Tokyo would be an inspirational choice to host the 2020 Olympic Games, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Olympic officials on Monday, with Japan keen to showcase its recovery from a devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Abe made sure that an inspection tour by an International Olympic Committee (IOC) team got off to a heavyweight start. At stake are an estimated three trillion yen ($32 billion) in potential economic impact and the chance, Japanese officials say, to showcase Japan's recovery from the 2011 disaster in the way the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games highlighted the nation's return after its World War Two defeat.

TOKYO, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Russia's Nadia Petrova overpowered eighth seed Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2 in a surprisingly one-sided match to reach the final of the Pan Pacific Open on Friday. Petrova, struggling with lower back pain all week, ran Australian Stosur ragged along the baseline to advance to her first final at the WTA premier five event in Tokyo. The 17th seed faces the winner of the day's second semi-final between defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska and German Angelique Kerber in Saturday's championship match.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Buddhist monk Yoshinobu Fujioka enjoys bringing his congregation together, one cocktail at a time. Fujioka owns the 23-seat "Vowz Bar" in central Tokyo, where Buddhist chants replace karaoke songs and the shaven-headed bartenders serve up sermons and homilies along with the drinks. "People would gather in a Buddhist temple and drink together, we've just updated the tradition to fit our times", said Fujioka, who also works at a temple just outside Tokyo.

TOKYO, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Olympic medallists brought downtown Tokyo to a standstill on Monday in an open-top bus victory parade witnessed by around 500,000 flag and fan-waving supporters. The convoy of five buses caused gridlock as fans and shoppers in Tokyo's upmarket Ginza district help celebrate Japan's record haul of 38 medals (seven gold, 14 silver and 17 bronze) at the London Olympics. People working in offices above street level leant precariously out of windows to cheer as the athletes navigated through a vast sea of supporters in Japan's first Olympic celebratory parade of its kind.

LONDON (Reuters) - Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympics has a better chance of success than when it sought the 2016 Games given the geographical spread of its rivals, bid chief Tsunekazu Takeda said on Friday. Tokyo faces only two cities, Madrid and Istanbul, campaigning for the 2020 Olympics as opposed to four rivals last time. Istanbul is divided into a European and an Asian side, making Tokyo the only wholly Asian bid. "I think it is a big difference this time," Takeda, an IOC member and also head of Japan's Olympic Committee, told Reuters.

TOKYO (Reuters) - First, there were the maid cafes, their customers pampered by women in maids' uniforms. Then came the cat cafes, which allowed cat lovers to play with frisky felines while sipping a cup of coffee. Now, enter the goat cafe, which houses a pair of friendly goats for customers to pet, play with and even take for walks through Tokyo's concrete jungle. Rena Kawaguchi and her staff brought the animals - named Sakura and Chocolat, or Cherry and Chocolate - three years ago, hoping to attract a new breed of animal-loving customers and spice up flagging weekend business.